Dell Precision M6500 gets dual-core Intel CPUs, USB 3.0

In addition to the new 13-inch Latitude, Dell's Precision M6500 is receiving a handful of upgrades. The business-minded notebook is said to be the "world's most powerful mobile workstation" and while it's already available with Intel's Core i7 quad-core processors (including the 920XM), some dual-core i5 and i7 configurations are expected later this month. Not only would this offer power savings, but it could lower the $2,749 starting price as well.

The updated M6500 will also include USB 3.0 ports -- a first for Dell, I believe -- a newer 3.2-megapixel webcam, and a 64GB SSD MiniCard, giving the M6500 up to three total storage drives. Present configuration options should remain largely unchanged -- and there are a lot of them.

Highlights include 2GB through 16GB of 1066MHz to 1600MHz DDR3 RAM, 1GB Quadro and FirePro graphics solutions, a selection of 17-inch RGB LED displays, various mechanical and flash drives with a couple RAID and encryption options, Blu-ray, wireless-N, mobile broadband via AT&T, Sprint or Verizon, and virtually every upper-end retail edition of Windows Vista or 7.